Our Courts
Har- Tru Courts
HAR-TRU® is made from billion year old, Pre-Cambrian metabasalt found in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It is a natural green stone which is extremely hard and angular, two very important qualities when it comes to tennis court construction. The angularity helps the stone particles lock together to form a stable playing surface. The hardness means exceptional durability. The natural green color is classically clay and instantly recognizable. The stone is crushed, screened and mixed in the precise proportions necessary to produce a stable playing surface. It is then installed over a porous base of crushed stone aggregate to produce the final product. We have 9 Har-Tru courts at Blakeney. Those courts are popular among adults due to the easiness on the body and slower ball bounce.
Asphalt Courts – Hard Courts
Asphalt tennis courts are very popular among our customers for a variety of reasons. The most compelling advantage of an asphalt tennis court is that it requires little or no maintenance on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. An asphalt tennis court is comprised of 4″ to 6″ of compacted road rock (usually limestone ), 1″ of asphalt and an acrylic color coating system. Once the stone base and asphalt has been installed, and the asphalt has cured for 2 weeks, the color coating process begins. The court will be flooded to reveal any low areas in the asphalt surface. A patch binder mix is then applied to fill in the low areas. Two coats of acrylic resurfacing product are next applied over the asphalt to repair any minor imperfections and seal the asphalt surface. Two coats of acrylic court paint are then applied, followed by the playing lines. The pace of ball bounce can be somewhat controlled by adding more or less sand to the acrylic resurfacing product and acrylic court paint. Most new courts will require a four coat color system (two coats of resurfacing product, two coats of color product). You as the court owner can choose from a variety of different colors to match your tastes. Here at Blakeney our courts are build in a medium pace. We have 3 ashphalt courts. Those courts are popular among juniors due to the fast pace compare to clay courts.
Red Clay Courts
Several years ago, Lee Tennis was asked to develop a red surface that would combine the elegance and tradition of European Red Clay with the durability and stability of HAR-TRU. People wanted the look of Roland Garros without all of the maintenance. After experimenting with several materials Lee Tennis found a suitable red stone, combined it with brick dust to create the American Red Clay. Our Red Clay courts are comes with HydroCourt which is a self-regulating irrigation system that waters the court from below. Each court is constructed with six, fully lined, individually controlled cells. Each cell is monitored by a water control box allowing adjustments to be fine tuned to player preferences. Increasing the water in the control boxes increases the water level in the court. Once the appropriate water level is achieved a float valve and an overflow pipe inside the control box keep the water level constant. It’s that simple! We have 2 Red Clay courts at Blakeney which are the only courts available in our area.
Racquetball
We have 1 racquetball court at Blakeney that are constructed according the U.S Racquetball Association regulations. The court was built with the 4’0″ x 8’0″ tongue and groove panels are built around a .050″ thick laminate on both sides of the particle board core – this is the thickest laminate available for court use. The sandwich-type construction gives the panel the structural stability needed for play and is stronger and more durable than other systems. The playing surface of the panel is a white velvet finish used essentially for aesthetics and proper ball reaction. The panels are machined to our exact specifications with tolerances of ±1/32″.
The front wall panel is 1-1/8″ thick; the side and rear wall panels are 7/8″ thick; and the ceiling panel is 5/8″ thick. The tongue and groove panels are faced with a plastic laminate that resists damage during play. Racquet and ball marks can be easily wiped clean with a household detergent.
The panels are glued and screwed into place directly to the structural “C” studs that allow the walls and ceilings to be totally self-supporting. Typical court framing consists of 18 or 16 gauge galvanized steel with varying sizes of 4″ to 6″ depending on the location and design of courts.
A hardwood maple floor system is recommended using either a sleeper or plywood system. The standard court floor system utilizes 25/32″ thick maple on top of a resilient padded subfloor. The floors are seal, finished, and painted with the red racquetball floor game lines.
The Court Company’s glass system meets the highest manufacturing standards and complies with all safety and performance criteria. The glass walls and windows can be fabricated to just about any size for use throughout the court and comes complete with all flush hardware and permanently etched game lines.
Lightings
We have 10 lighted Blakeney and 4 unlit clay courts. Each of the lighted courts provides about 8000 watts per court which is considered to be the second best lighting after high efficiency stadium lighting. Court lighting gives our members an extended evening play during long evening play during long evening league matches.